Red Sox's Record Agreement With Betts Guarantees No Hard Feelings For Long-Term Talks

SportsMoney
I've covered Boston sports for a variety of outlets since 2001.

The Red Sox avoided arbitration with outfielder Mookie Betts, a move to preserve the relationship with the AL MVP who will be a free agent in 2020. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

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Part of building and sustaining a championship organization is avoiding denigrating your players, especially the stars.

Arbitration can be an ugly process that can cause rifts. Even if players are able to put what they hear in the back of their minds in the short term, the arguments downplaying their accomplishments could force a player to reconsider whether staying with that team for the long term is in the his best interest.

That’s why what the Boston Red Sox did with reigning American League Most Valuable Player Mookie Betts on Friday was so significant: they settled for a one-year $20 million one year after the Red Sox actually took one of the game’s premier all-around players to arbitration.

Imagine the Red Sox attempting to argue against Betts receiving a significant raise from the $10.5 million he received after a hearing last year. Betts won the A.L. batting title with a .346 batting average and also led the league in slugging percentage (.640). He hit 32 home runs and drove in 80, almost all from the leadoff spot the batting order. He stole 30 bases and won his third Gold Glove.

Betts is a homegrown generational talent, the likes of which don’t come around very often. Last winter the Red Sox made their case for giving Betts $7.5 million and lost, the worst-case scenario for a team. (Although Betts brushed off the notion that he would be offended shortly after reporting to 2018 spring training.)

“That’s just the business of it, of this game,” Betts told the media in Fort Myers. “I think I’m just going to worry about 2018 right now and just kind of focus on brining back a World Series this year.

“Just seeing that side of it is pretty interesting. I like those type of things, kind of see how people debate. There were no hard feelings, nothing wrong. I love these guys. Nothing changed. I’m just going to continue to go out and play and have my same relationship that I always have.”

Talk about being prophetic. After Betts won the regular-season MVP and World Series title, the Red Sox have now granted him the largest raise ever for a position player already in the midst of his arbitration years.

Betts was one 12 Red Sox arbitration-eligible players to settle and avoid hearings on Friday. All except relief pitcher Tyler Thornburg received raises. Spotrac.com estimates the Red Sox’s total salary commitments for the 2019 season, assuming all the current roster sticks together, will be $225.5 million and change. The Red Sox will have some flexibility to add on before or during the season, especially if their closer situation doesn’t pan out as currently planned, and as long as they’re willing to again surpass the luxury-tax thresholds.

Most significant, though, was the Red Sox avoiding doing anything to make their cornerstone player even have an ounce of doubt about his importance to the organization and its appreciation of him. Two years ago, before he was eligible for arbitration, Betts wound up playing for $950,000 after having his contract renewed. It was a business move that every team makes and usually is accepted by the player but sometimes things can go south after that. Betts was pleased with his arbitration award last year and now must be ecstatic with his new contract.

With the question of whether he would at some point agree to a long-term extension swirling around him last season, Betts had the performance of his life. So the Red Sox shouldn’t have to worry about him being distracted by another one-year contract. He’ll keep slugging away and might take this thing all the way to 2020, when he’ll be eligible for free agency.

It might be in Betts’ best interest to wait this out. The Bryce Harper and Manny Machado situations this winter have reinforced the notion that the free agency process is a little broken. Anything the owners and MLBPA eventually do to heal the process will definitely make for a better environment for Betts when he gets to free agency.

Even at just 26, Betts doesn’t have anything to prove. Luckily he didn’t have to prove himself to the Red Sox in a hearing, and they didn’t have to try to disprove him. Now there’s a better chance to eventually make the type of agreement that will keep Betts in Boston for the foreseeable future with both sides confident they believe in each other.